Christmas cards are supposed to make one feel good. The joy of hearing from your friends and family, sending their love and wishes for the new year. I received a huge stack of them in the mail yesterday. They made me feel. . . depressed.

Why? Because earlier this year, in a fit of utter stupidity, I managed to lose all of the data in my Psion palmtop. I was replacing both the lithium and AA batteries and somehow didn't get the connections right and *poof*. Gone, deceased, erased. All of my addresses and phone numbers - history. I used to back up my info on a fairly regular basis, but I hadn't been able to get the computer link to work when we moved to our new offices so I had no way to restore it.

I have been piecing together addresses and phone numbers again, but it is a long process. And when I saw all those wonderful cards, I thought, "Everyone's going to think I'm horrible for not sending cards this year." *sigh*

So I have decided that I will send cards - to everyone who sends me one and is nice enough to put their address on the envelope. They'll be late, but hopefully it is the thought that counts.

Amazon.com kind of freaks me out. I go onto the site, and it's a little disconcerting to realize how much they know about me. I mean, they track the things the you buy and even the things that you look at and make suggestions to you based on that. It's kind of like having one of those little sales associates that follows you around a store trying to help you.

[I'm just looking, thank you.]

I do like their "wish list" concept though. You can set it up like a bridal registry to show which books, CDs, DVDs, etc. that you would be interested in and if someone wants to buy you a gift they can go on there and find something for you. Pretty cool, actually. Now, before ya'll stampede over to Amazon, please note that I haven't actually set the thing up yet. So you'll have to wait to shower me with those gifts until another day.

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Quote du jour:

Holidays are an expensive trial of strength. The only satisfaction comes from survival.
Jonathan Miller